‘Star Trek Beyond’ Director Justin Lin Is Hopping Behind the Wheel of ‘Hot Wheels’
Hasbro currently stands at the top of the pile of toy-based live-action movies with a fifth Transformers chapter on the way, but Mattel is slowly catching up. With the Max Steel feature film on the way later this year, the toy company is revving its engines for another potential franchise starter, and they’ve got none other than Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin signed on for the project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mattel and Legendary have just announced a Hot Wheels movie which will be helmed, developed, and produced by Lin. Hot Wheels has been in development since 2005 when it looked like McG was interested in the project, and then Simon Crane signed on, but nothing has come of it until now. Lin is currently working on a Space Jam sequel and a Jeremy Renner-starring Bourne sequel, so it’ll be a while before we see Hot Wheels rev its engines.
You might recognize Lin’s name from the Fast & Furious movies, of which he directed the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments, so there’s really no better director Mattel could have chosen to make a movie about fast cars. Lin pumped new life into the Fast & Furious franchise, which has become one of the biggest of the past decade, and set the Star Trek reboot film series back on track with this summer’s Beyond, so if Mattel is hoping to make Hot Wheels into a series it looks like they’ve got just the right guy for the job.